


Who Said Aliens Were the Only Non-Humans

by Rhino (RhinoMouse), RhinoMouse



Category: Sense8 (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Being A Sensate is Weird, Being frozen in time fucks up the same age part of being a cluster, Cluster Birth, Clusters in the Supergirl World, F/F, F/M, Family, Found Family, Lots of minor characters die in chapter 1, M/M, Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts, Multi, OT3, Will Add Tags As We Go, lots of friendships, there's a coyote
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24451792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhinoMouse/pseuds/Rhino, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhinoMouse/pseuds/RhinoMouse
Summary: Cat Grant was part of a cluster of friends as a child. All those voices, thoughts, and experiences in her mind. She knew of Krypton long before Superman arrived. And then one night it she was alone in her head again. Funny how something like being different in that fundamental of a manner changes things.Kara only has Cat left of their original cluster, and thanks to the Phantom Zone it's weird. But she wouldn't have it any other way, even if it means she's the same age as the new cluster Cat is birthing. Funny how things work out sometimes. Or well in Alex's opinion fucking weird.Or the Sense8 AU for Supergirl
Relationships: Cat Grant/Lois Lane/Clark Kent, Kara Danvers & Cat Grant, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 106
Kudos: 317





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! It's kinda late and I'll probably change up the tags a bit in the morning. But yes I'm alive! I know I've been gone for ages, but let's just say life is crazy. I haven't forgotten my other stories, but I'm kinda branching out into a few new fandoms while keeping up with the old going forward. I have a few fics in the works, so like, I'm back.

Cat groaned as she pressed against her back. “Fuck this.” 

“You’ve got this Cat.” Kara pressed a stress ball into one hand. “Do you need anything?” 

She glared at her companion. “To not be going through labor again!” 

“At least it’s a psychological labor and not a physical one?” Kara winced even as the words left her. 

Cat snarled. She was going to strangle Kara with her bare hands, invulnerable alien or not. “You should run you incompetent troldite!” 

“Oh leave off Cat.” Lois materialized in the middle of the room. “Honestly, it’s not like she impregnated you.” She grabbed Cat’s wrist and pointedly took her pulse. “You’re getting on with it quite well then.” 

She bared her teeth. “I don’t see you birthing a cluster.” 

“Yes I’m sure my day may come. For now you can stop biting our heads off that your day has come. Now do we know if you need to push?” Lois’s eyes were warm as she laid a hand on Cat’s back. 

Cat closed her eyes, letting the affection suffuse her. “It’s not like giving birth to a child.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s comparable to physical labor in that my mind keeps making it feel physical instead of psychological. It’s awful. Migraine from hell.” 

“Do you want a Lexpro?” Kara offered, having already grabbed the aforementioned pill. 

She rolled her eyes. “Get me some aspirin and scotch.” 

“No scotch.” Lois glared at Kara.

Kara vibrated as she pressed aspirin and a glass of water into Cat’s hands. She kissed her sweaty brow. “As soon as this is over you can have as much scotch as you could want.” 

Cat had several things she’d like to say to that, as another contraction shook her very soul she just grit her teeth and groaned. “Is this what our Cluster’s father went through?” 

“I mean he didn’t quite explain it as being this terrible?” Kara carefully guided her to the bed and helped prop her up with pillows while Lois held her hand tightly betwixt her own. 

She wished she’d had more time to properly speak with her cluster, hell her cluster’s father was someone she only vaguely saw or felt the echo of more than had real memories of. Her hands clenched as she felt the next contract hit. 

////

When Cat was twelve she had the oddest dreams, and a blinding headache for a solid week. By the end of it she had the most amazing realization. She really was special, she was part of a ‘we’, a cluster. She and her eleven other selves who were all children of the same age on a planet called Krypton. It made her lonely childhood amazing. 

It was something she learned to keep to herself after being put into therapy for trying to explain to her mother that aliens were real. But as a child having a secret was exciting and it let her fall deeper into her connection. Her cluster was everything. Sweet Tur who was going to be an explorer and discover earth some day. Darling Kara who was essentially an alien princess and who was brilliant even by alien standards. Ran who was destined for the art guild and painted her landscapes of a forgien planet so she had something of them with her always. 

Her days were filled with alien information, games with her eleven other selves, joining them in lessons, sharing her own with curious aliens who’d never been under a yellow sun before. They all learned different things and shared and reveled in their bond. Days filled with music, science, language, art, life. And then came the day when her life came crashing down. 

Cat had been sleeping peacefully in her bed, tired from a rousing game of space explorer with Tur and Loo. But she came awake with a shot of alarm. She blinked at the dark of her room before realizing where the fear was coming from. Kara. 

Between one blink and another she was in a hallway on Krypton, sharing confused looks with her clustermates, blinking into wakefulness as Kara’s distress called to them. Her arm was being held so tightly it would surely bruise as her mother hurried her through hallways Kara had never been allowed to go through before. 

“Kara what’s happening?” Glen’s round face scrunched up in confusion as he looked around the hallway. He had messy black hair, some sticking up awkwardly from his pillow, grubby looking green eyes he rubbed at. 

Suddenly there was a sharp cry of alarm through the bond and Cat followed it to Doni, the sweetest of their cluster. A quiet girl with thick curly brown hair and freckles across her nose and cheeks. 

Doni’s eyes were wide and terrified as she cowered in the corner of her room, hands clutched at her ears as her entire building shuddered. This wasn’t a simple quake as was common on Krypton, it was stronger, the wall cracked. Doni screamed as the metal sheared apart. 

Cat wrapped her arms around Doni, hugging her tightly. “Kara what’s happening?” 

“I don’t know!” Kara hysterically cried to their cluster. 

Glen yanked them to him as he screamed as he was half out of his home. Before his feet the ground was tearing, and heat and light shining through the growing gap. 

Tur grabbed Glen and dragged him away and down the road. They ran through the panicking crowds, screaming spread, the entire cluster dealing with the earthquake now. The world itself seemed to be tearing itself apart. Tur’s eyes widened as he disappeared back to his own home. Loo grabbed Glen’s hand and continuing to lead him away.

Cat gasped for breath through the pain as she and the rest of the cluster felt Tur be crushed under a piece of his home as it ripped to pieces. 

Tur was so pale as shook, unable to see anything from the waist down, the massive metal wall, surely crushing him. There was a hallow echo as Jules realized that Tur couldn’t survive the injuries caused by the ceiling and wall crushing him. 

Doni sobbed, begging for her mommy to come and save her. The whole cluster shook with the horror of the reality one of their number was going to die. Bright and daring Tur who interceded in school yard tiffs and was always ready for an adventure. 

It clogged in Cat’s throat, she wanted to scream, rage, do anything to fix everything. Somehow it was worse then when her father died, she could feel Tur’s fear and shock. And then Tur looked up at them all, a wavering smile on his face. “Love you guys.” 

That shook them all out of their frozen horror as they all gathered around Tur, hugging him and murmuring affection. Cat felt hot tears streaming down her face as she buried her nose in Tur’s hair. His brown curls tickled her nose and she sobbed. 

And then the cluster became aware of Kara panicking as she was forced into a shuttle. The information Kara had learned as the cluster was reeling from the upcoming death of Tur crashed through their connection. 

Krypton was dying, Kara’s parents were sending her to Earth, Krypton was dying. They were all going to die. Cat clung to her cluster as she desperately tried to save them with her sheer force of will. 

Kara sobbed as she desperately tried to claw through the glass of her pod as it shot out into space. She could see, and the cluster could see Krypton coming apart at the seems. 

Tur gurgled as he collapsed, the warmth of his presence fading in an echo of death. 

Glen cried out as the ground gave way, collapsing into the core. His screams as he was swallowed ripped through their souls. 

Doni simply ceased to be as her home was swallowed, her last thoughts a cry for her mother to save her. 

Ran was silence suddenly, her ceiling falling in on her, her hands gripping her beloved brushes as her spirit was snuffed out.

Loo stared at the red sun, tears streaming down his face as he felt the deaths of his cluster as his world was ruptured. Horror and incomprehension of his last thoughts and feelings.

Laura, destined for the military guild, tripped and trampled by terrified crowds. Pain and confusion sucking the breath from all of them. 

Kan perished cradled in his parent's arms as they sheltered in a corner of the room. One moment he was there, terror echoing from him as his fingers dug into his father’s robes, and the next he was gone. 

Yat trembled as she watched from the great height of her home, her toy saber in her hand and screamed as her world was swallowed. 

Java desperately begged not to die. She still had so much she wished to do, to see, to be, she was scared. So scared. She didn’t want to die. Please...please, please, please, please. 

Unt was silent as his father sheltered him in his arms. Unable to do anything, think anything, feel anything as the reality of events hallowed out the usually clever and mischievous boy. 

And then Cat was alone in her bedroom on earth, the darkness silent around her. She choked out a sob crying out for her cluster, her other selves. And she found a single soul still entwined with hers. Gasping she found herself in space, staring at the remains of Krypton consuming itself. Kara shaking as she stared dead eyed at their planet. 

“Kara.” Cat croaked grabbing her other self. She didn’t know what she wanted from her only that she was agony. 

Kara sobbed and grabbed her back. 

Time was unmeasurable as they stayed together in horrified silence. They sat on the cold wooden floor of Cat’s bedroom, hands gripping each other. They also were crammed in Kara’s pod watching the remains of Krypton falling further and further behind in the inky blackness of space. 

They both jolted as the ship began to beep in alarm. Looking at the controls and then up they saw the crack in the universe. Their eyes met as they both understood what was about to happen. 

“Kara!” 

“Cat!” 

And then Cat was alone in her room.

////

“WHY IS THERE MENTAL LABOR!” Cat screamed as her latest contraction ripped through her mind. She could feel it now, five distinct soft presences. 

Kara pressed her forehead against Cat’s. “You’ve got this. You’re doing amazing.” 

“Of course I am, I’m me.” Cat gulped in air as the contraction passed. 

Lois laughed while rubbing her back. “Now, any idea how many kids you’re having?” 

“Five I think.” Cat felt a well of affection at the thought of her future children. 

Kara chuckled. “An unusually large cluster and now birthing an unusually small cluster. You just have to do everything in the most spectacular way don’t you?” 

“You could call it that, freaky is also an option.” Lois replied, clearly amused as she kissed Cat’s knuckles. “You’ve got this, or is cluster birth going to defeat the great Cat Grant.” 

Cat’s eyes narrowed as she hissed. “You’re lucky you’re not physically here or I would eviscerate you Lane.” 

“Yes well some of us have jobs that don’t let us lounge about resting on our laurels.” Lois’s eyes sparkled as she squeezed Cat’s hand. 

Cat threw her head back as another contraction hit. She cried out as the pain rippled through her mind. 

////

Cat was withdrawn, plagued by nightmares and deeply grieving after the death of her cluster and second world. Her one comfort was she could feel the soft presence of Kara. It wasn’t… complete. But she could still feel Kara. It kept her from drowning in pain, but barely. Her psychiatrist was baffled by her state. She found the man a useless buffoon. He did have one suggestion that helped. She began to journal. 

She wrote out in kryptonian script everything she could about her cluster. Cat wrote till her hands ached about Unt’s pranks and glib jokes. Yat and Laura’s favorite adventure stories and histories of the kryptonian armies. The world of her cluster put down in ink. It made it...real. 

Sometimes she’d trace the characters as familiar to herself as english and cry. Her journals were her respite. To be able to pour her memories. To give her other selves a legacy. When she was sixteen she escaped out of her boarding school and had their names tattooed down her spine. The kryptonian funeral rites tattooed across her ribs. It hurt, it made her feel more real and alive than she had in years. 

Her cluster was gone. She was all that was left. Cat felt blood between her teeth as she resolved to make her mark, their mark. It was only her so she would make a legacy to make her cluster proud. Their lives would mean something. Because they’d lived, and she would carve their lives into this planet. 

////

Cat’s teeth creaked with the pressure of her teeth clenching as she rode out yet another in the endless wave of contractions. She choked as she spotted the flicker of another room, a room and a hint of brown eyes. 

“There you go, there you go.” Kara wiped the sweat from Cat’s brow with one hand while carefully slipping ice chips into Cat’s mouth. 

Lois kept rubbing circles on Cat’s back. “You know how Clark and I’ve been considering having a kid? I’m having second thoughts.” 

“It’s a fucking miricle.” Cat hissed as another wave of contractions crested and swept her into their grips.

////

Cat considered stabbing a pen through Perry White’s eye. “I’ll have a new draft on your desk in an hour.” 

“You’d be better off keeping to the gossip hun.” Perry waived her off. 

Her nails bit into her palms. Why was this planet so backwards? Rao she missed krypton’s sensibilities on gender. “One hour.” She turned on her heel, slamming the door behind her hard enough to rattle it in it’s frame. 

Stomping forward she spotted one of the new college interns. For a split second her eyes met blue glasses and then something familiar flitted across her thoughts. Cat stopped as she saw herself from the perspective of the intern. She sucked in a startled breath. “You.” 

Cat stopped in front of the intern’s desk. “We need to speak. The roof. Now.” 

The wide eyed man-child nodded before jumping to his feet. He nearly tripped over his own feet as she left him.

She stared at the horizon as she waited. The height made her sick, had made sick since she was a child who felt a building fall on top of her. Had felt the fall into the breaking core of a planet. But she would never be great if she failed to face her fears. 

“Um...Ms Grant?” a midwestern voice asked. 

Cat turned. “You have a cluster?” 

“I...yes. I haven’t met another sensate before.” He cocked his head curiously. “My name is Clark Kent.” 

She eyed him curiously. “I wasn’t aware of any other sensates in the area. Human ones at least.” 

Clark’s posture straightened, his broad shoulders showing themselves. “I don’t know what you mean.” 

“Cut the bullshit. I know your features. Your name is Kal El isn’t it?” She wrapped an arm around herself. It hurt. Everything about it ached to see a man who could be the striking image of Jor-el, who had the same eyes as her other-self Kara. A blue so vivid that only the genetic engineering could achieve it. Besides, she was a reporter. It was easily noticeable that he lacked canines and everything about him was just a touch too perfect. The type of perfect she associated with non humans. 

Kal El froze, his eyes widening. “How….that name…” 

“Yes or no Kal.” She tapped her foot. 

His head jerked up and down slightly. “Yes. My name is Kal El.” The way his mouth wrapped around the syllables was wrong and accented oddly. 

Cat raised a brow while her chest felt like it was caving in. “Your pronunciation is appalling, we’ll have to do something about that. Please say you at least know the basics of your history?” 

“How?” He trembled as he took a step forward. 

She sighed, she could see the hope in his eyes. “My clustermates were kryptonian.” It felt like it was being dragged out of her, but she knew Kara would never forgive her if she failed to ensure Kal was taken care of. “You look just like your father. Your eyes are the same as your cousin’s.” It helped she’d spent years hoping against hope to spot him, this last tenuous thread to her other selves. 

“Kara, is she alive?” He practically begged. 

Cat shook. “She’s in the phantom zone.”

Seven hours later Cat laughed as her latest glass of scotch sloshed. “Unt and Kara reprogramed the household AI to puff out glitter every time someone touched it. By the time your father was able to fix the thing the entire house was covered.” 

Kal laughed, though he remained sitting eagerly drinking stories of his homeworld. His tongue was clunky as he spoke in kryptonian. But he’d been eager to speak it with another person. “You helped didn’t you?” 

“Oh not with the prank itself.” Cat rolled her eyes, she was well and properly buzzed on her way to completely sloshed. “But Unt and Kara couldn’t lie their way out of a paper bag. So when your father came demanding they confess what they knew I took over and convinced him it was his brother Zor who’d done it. Of course Zor hadn’t but he was so amused by the whole thing we didn’t get in trouble.” 

It was...cleansing to speak of them. To share it with someone. 

////

Cat panted as she looked at the ceiling. “You know someday it will probably be one of you, and when that day comes I will cackle.” 

“Yes, yes your glee at our possible future predicament is noted.” Lois glanced over her shoulder before fading out of sight for a moment. Before Cat could chase after her asshole wife, Lois was back. “That idiot man left the oven on.” 

She snorted, some things happened during birth that were unsightly...like snorts. “I will never understand why you married the boy scout. He’s insufferable.” 

Kara snickered while laying the heated lavender infused heat pack around her shoulders. Her general amusement and affection flowing into her. It was so hard to be properly mad at someone who felt your emotions and you felt theirs. 

“Yes yes I married a boy scout and a kitty cat.” Lois rolled her eyes. “Push out this cluster before we have to start experimenting with gags.” 

Cat glared. “Fuck you Lane.” 

////

Cat rolled her eyes as she adjusted the fortress settings. “I’m aware you're self taught but you couldn’t even find the climate controls? Were you damaged as a child?” 

“I only found this place a couple years ago.” Clark blushed rubbing at the back of his head awkwardly, that stupidly charming expression on his face. If she didn’t distinctly remember helping Kara change his diapers and still have Kara’s familial affection for him she’d have climbed the troladite like a tree. 

She skimmed through the relevant files. “This is clearly a rush job, completely inelegant. It’s like the man just dumped information into this place as if it was a trash compactor.” 

“How…” Clark gaped as she ran through the files of the fortress. 

Cat was smug as she booted up the AI systems. “You’re fluent in twelve languages, how many of those did you learn yourself?” 

“I see your point...but after all this time?” Clark’s voice soft.

Her eyes burned, but she refused to let it show. “I never forgot.” 

Clark hugged her. “Thank you.” 

She allowed herself this. Here was a piece of what she’d lost. Someone physically there to hold, a balm to the aching emptiness she’d been filled with. And she cried for the loss of her cluster. 

By the end of the month every member of Clark’s cluster had managed to come meet her. She was an honorary member of it really. They’d swing by, ask her opinion on things, play the occasional game of chess. It wasn’t what she’d once had, but it was better. Lois Lane’s sharp wit was welcome and lit the life back into her a way even Clark’s calm reassurance couldn’t. 

////

Clark zoomed into the room, a plate full of the belgian chocolates brandished in front of him in self defense. “I got the chocolate!” 

Cat snatched them and stuffed one into her mouth. Propriety and image were gone. Besides, they’d all been through this before only at a hospital last time. 

“Only thing scarier than a hungry kryptonian.” Lois remarked while brushing hair out of Cat’s eyes. “You’re doing good sweetie.” 

Kara continued to rub Cat’s feet. “You’re down to a minute between contractions. It’s almost over, they’re almost here.” 

She groaned. “I’m not doing this again.” 

“Whatever you want love.” Lois kissed the edge of her mouth.

////

Cat rubbed her baby bump affectionately. She could feel her child growing inside of her. “Thank you.” 

“You’re family Cat.” Clark passed over the bag of Big Belly Burger. “I’m just glad you decided to do this before, well.” He looked away awkwardly. 

“Before you destroyed most of the codex to save the planet.” Cat’s hands stilled over her child, her miracle. “The Kalex units are working on salvaging what they can. It’s not all lost. Kryptonians won’t go extinct.” 

“No not while you’re here.” Clark looked at her stomach reverently. “Why the genetic material from house Ur?” 

She sighed. “In cluster’s...you are closer to Lois than the rest of your cluster, yes?”

“Yes, or well it’s different between us.” His brow was crinkled as he tried to parse that. 

Cat could see the ghost of Tur-Ur waving at her eagerly from the corner, and then he was gone. “Tur-Ur was the first of my cluster I connected with. We were...similar in many ways. Both filled with an insatiable curiosity, a need to know, to cut our own paths. I know that the genetic sample of house Ur isn’t from him. But when I saw there was a sample from house Ur I knew.” 

“He’d be honored.” Clark laid his hand on top of hers. 

“You’re not going to propose again are you? Lois won’t be happy to know you’re proposing to someone who isn’t her.” Cat smirked at him. 

Lois’s voice interrupted them. “I’ve been thinking of that actually. I know our arrangement is unusual but I have a suggestion.” 

“Do I want to know?” Cat raised a brow. 

“Possible, there’s no law stating a person cannot have a civil union and a marriage. Afterall civil unions are repurposed business contracts. Thoughts?” Lois asked, the slightest waver of nerves. 

Clark spluttered. 

Cat paused. “Are you suggesting instead of our odd relationship where you and Clark are disgusting and you and I are whatever we are; that instead of that you marry both of us?” 

“Well legal protection, and if there’s a way to give my father a heart attack. Two birds one stone.” Lois looked at her challenging. 

She considered that. Well, it was sweet in it’s own way. “Well if you want to pay child support I’m not stopping you.” 

“Excellent, I’ll make the arrangements.” Lois pressed a quick kiss to Clark’s cheek and then a firm one to Cat’s lips before breaking off the visit. 

Clark made a small noise. “Do I not get any say in this?” 

“Are you opposed?” Cat laughed at his expression and reached out mussing his hair. He was the best friend she could have asked for. 

////

Cat flashed to an office. A young man, asian was at the desk writing with one hand and the other pressing against his temple. He was handsome, his hair stylishly gelled. He seemed to pause and look up, eyes widening as he spotted her. And then she was back in her bedroom with Kara and Lois.

“Hey, hey you’re back. You’re good.” Kara murmured her eyes tracking her face for the slightest thing wrong. 

She beamed. “I saw one, he’s spectacular. It’s so close.” 

“The connection is getting there.” Lois kissed her temple. She chuckled. “And don’t worry, Clark’s back and Carter is fine.”

Tension bled out of her back at that. “Good...Rao why is birth so difficult?” 

“You’re doing something more amazing than any save Kal or I ever do.” Kara let out an amused sound. “I don’t think you’d accept any accomplishment without labor first.” 

Cat squeezed Kara’s hand. “Now’s not the time to be clever.” 

“Of course not, that’s your job.” Kara gave her a wink. 

////

Cat was enjoying some salted chocolates when she felt it. It was a tickle, a tremor. She frowned as she looked up from her blueprints for the new Catco building. 

A wave of grogginess slammed into her. She swayed in her seat. And then froze as her eyes snapped open. Kara. 

Kara! 

She was on her feet, instantly projecting to Clark. “Kara’s waking up!” 

“What?!” Clark came to a sudden halt, small kitten he’d just saved from a tree in his hands. “Where?” 

“I don’t know, stay connected to me.” Cat ordered before leaving him to it and throwing herself into her old unused connection to her other self. 

“Kara?” 

There was the incessant tug of artificial unconsciousness. A flash of lights passing by. 

Cat grit her teeth. She pressed as hard as she could. And took a solid look at the approaching planet. Hanging in she felt panic and confusion beginning to spread as Kara got closer and closer to consciousness. “You’re ok, I’ve got you.” She tried desperately to keep Kara’s attention on the planet. “I need to know where you’re landing, just keep looking….” 

The planet screamed closer, and then Kara’s voice was there. “Cat?! What, Cat it’s going to crash! Cat what’s happening?! Cat?!” And then she was unconscious again. 

Cat was rudely thrown back into her own perceptions again. One hand on her now truly gigantic baby bump, the other she threw out to the wall to brace herself. “Clark! She’s coming down in the middle of New Mexico.” 

She didn’t question Clark not replying to her, he had more important things to do. Moving to the couch she lowered herself down and closed her eyes. Focusing on the presence of Kara’s unconscious mind she sighed. Still alive. There was a flicker. And coming to.

Cat stroked the side of Kara’s cheek as she slowly woke. Oh she was so painfully young. The reality of it caught in Cat’s throat, a child. They’d been children when their world was ripped away from them. And then she was looking into familier blue eyes. 

“Cat?”

////

Cat’s nose wrinkled as she smelled scotch. She frowned as she saw the woman standing by the large windows. The woman was stiff, fragil, but so full of fight, a glass of scotch gripped tightly in one hand. As their eyes met though it wasn’t surprise on her face, it was horror. 

Gasping Cat slammed back into herself. “Lena Luthor.” 

“What?” Lois startled, sharing a confused look with Kara. 

She swallowed. “Lena Luthor is part of the cluster.” 

“Well you don’t do things by half.” Lois let out a snort. 

Kara laughed while rubbing at Cat’s back. “That’s two, you’re almost there.” 

////

Cat smiled as she felt Kara visiting. “I’m guessing the feeling of heat vision wasn’t on purpose?” 

“No...I exploded the popcorn maker.” Kara was tinged with shame and embarrassment. 

She turned and wrapped her arms around Kara’s shoulders. The pain and fear and frustration was hers as well as Kara. She understood to her bones. It was….revealing to have no secrets. A sort of bare and complete honesty at all times.

The part of Cat who’d been alone in her head save for occasional sensates encountered while at work, only six of them in all of Metropolis; was rubbed raw by having her walls and shields ripped away like tissue paper. But the thought of loosing this closeness, complete understanding and a wholeness she hadn’t had since she was a child, left her ready to claw anything even thinking of it to pieces. It was a conundrum. 

Kara understood, she just tightened her arms. Finally she pulled back. “How’s the baby?”

“Good, did you feel him kicking this morning?” She smiled, affection growing between them. 

“Yes!” Kara beamed before touching Cat’s stomach with gentle fingers as if afraid her strength could harm their son even like this when she wasn’t physically there. “It’s incredible.” 

She smirked. “I should thank you for letting me burn off some of my hormones by taking care of your pitiful failures of bullies.”

“I’m not sure they deserved what we did to them for making fun of me.” Kara couldn’t hide her satisfaction the mean girls wouldn’t be bothering her again. 

Cat ignored the protest, honestly those catty, underdeveloped, plebeians weren’t fit to have crawled out of the evolutionary muck from whence humanity came. 

Kara giggled. “Stacy’s face when you called her a troglodyte.” 

“We’re going to prevent them from bullying anyone aren’t we?” Cat couldn’t help her affection for Kara at that moment. “You know Yat would have just punched them.” 

Cat wished she could cock a hip, sadly she was in the late third trimester of pregnancy and it wasn’t going to happen. “Well I’m sure we’ll find a way to honor Yat’s temper as we restructure the social hierarchy of your highschool. At least maternity leave won’t bore me to tears.” 

////

Cat wondered how she was going to handle having six children instead of one? It was going to be interesting. “God how did our cluster’s father birth all twelve of us?” She hissed.

“He spent a week on medical leave.” Kara offered her ice chips.

She opened her mouth to accept them when she was yanked into a gun range. Cat paused as she recognized this member of her cluster personally. “Alex.” 

Alex Danvers lowered her gun as understanding dawned, because of course she knew about the fact Cat’s cluster was being born tonight. “Fuck.” 

////

Cat lucked her reading glasses off and paused. She felt a thrill of excitement that was very much not her own. With a sigh she took in where Kara was. A single brow rose as she took in Kara floating around the ceiling with Carter perched on her shoulders. “Quietly putting him down are you?” 

“Cat?!” Kara’ yelped as she spotted her. “Um...he’s just so cute.” 

The familiar rightness of it all ran straight to her bones. Because there was Kara, her clustermate real and alive and there. And she was holding a child. Their child who had Tur’s soft brown curls and was a legacy, proof they had existed. “Put him to bed Kara.”

“Or...we could all play airplanes?” Kara’s eyes were bright with joy.

The excitement, the edge of mischievousness was so easy to let fill her. “Well if it’s for airplanes.” 

An hour later and Cat just laughed at the surprised expression on Lois’s face as she checked in. Who cared that she looked ridiculous letting a fourteen year old float her and their son around the house? She was complete and whole after years of being a ghost.

////

Cat was focusing all of her energy on forming the psychic connections between her and her new children. Once she’d connected to each of them their bonds to each other would begin to form. It was easier this time to follow the mental contraction to the next of her children. There. 

She breathed in the cool mountain air and looked around the room. It had an air of history and age to it, stone and wood forming a circular room with no ceiling. Sitting in the center of the room meditating was a woman of apparent middle eastern descent. 

The woman opened her eyes and met Cat’s gaze. She titled her head. “You’re not really here?” 

She rose to her feet with a liquid grace. “Interesting.” 

Cat almost cackled, oh her children were interesting. 

////

Today was the day. Cat could feel the excitement bubbling inside of her from both Kara and herself. Their feelings built and rebounded between them as they headed into their new reality. Because today was the day Kara’s summer internship at Catco began. It was boring, mostly filing and coffee runs. But it would give Cat an excuse to hire Kara as a babysitter for Carter. 

No more sneaking around with careful use of superspeed to come spend weekends to help with Carter. They’d have a legitimate reason to know each other. Cat had dressed especially to impress. Lois had had quite a lot to say about it and Cat had had to change, but surprise sex had been quite effective at divesting her of any worries about the day. 

As she walked into the building she reveled in the way her employees scattered for her, the sharp click of her heels the haroled of her appearance. And standing there, holding the door of her personal elevator was Kara. 

Kara’s hear was perfectly braided and wrapped around her head, pastel sundress and light brown flats and big smile as she stood inside the private elevator ignoring the panicked chaos of people trying to waive her out of Cat’s path of wrath. It was delicious and Cat smirked as she strode into the elevator. She gave Kara a pointed up down. “Well, you don’t smell terrible. Which one of my insepid employees are you?” 

“Kara Danvers!” Kara held out her hand with a giant beaming grin as the elevator door closed. 

Cat couldn’t help it, they both laughed as they shared their impressions of the shock on everyone’s faces. She wiped a tear from her eye. “We should do that more often, keep the lodites on their toes.” 

“That’s mean!” Kara laughed as she protested. 

Cat rolled her eyes, her other half did have to have a soft side to her. But then that was why it was important they were one. With Kara’s autism school would have been hell without Cat to give her the barbs to say to keep the vultures at bay. Or Cat’s knowledge of earth norms to cover her during her transition. “Oh please they’ll recover. If I didn’t fire at least one a week they’d stop listening to me. It’s a man’s planet here.” 

“Krypton’s understanding of gender was superior.” Kara pronounced, her voice tinged with disgust. 

She smiled. “Rao if only humans could jump a few thousand years of evolution forward.” 

“Cat.” Kara giggled as she chided her gently. 

She reached out straightening Kara’s collar. “Ready to play the beligured babysitter?” 

“I mean I am getting a car out of this.” Kara grinned, her excitement at not having to run in camo from Midville to National City on weekends. It was hell on her shoes and controlling her powers was still difficult. 

Cat sighed. “Yes you get a car out of this. And here I thought you were excited to get to spend more time with our son.” 

“I can’t wait to pick him up from daycare!” Kara bounced excitedly. 

Cat’s game face came on. “Time to perform.” The door swung open and Cat walked out of the elevator like her office was her own personal run way. Accepting her latte from this week's assistant she looked over her shoulder. “You’ll do as a babysitter Kiera. Pick him up from daycare, 5’ockock.” 

She enjoyed watching her employees traumatized expressions through Kara’s eyes. It was truly an excellent day. 

////

This one came easier as Cat felt the contraction take her. She couldn’t help but huff as she spotted the familiar form of her office hobbit. Of course he was sitting in his boxers on his couch at home, game controller in his hands, pizza hanging from his mouth. Well it would seem at least one of her cluster was going to need to be raised. 

Honestly.

Winslow’s mouth fell open, the pizza falling from his mouth. “Ms Grant?” He squacked. 

She sucked in a breath as she slammed back into her body's perspective. “That’s all of them.” Panting she flopped back onto the bed, exhaustion dripping from her every pore. “Thank Rao.” 

“Cat!” Kara kissed her sweaty brow while Lois kissed her knuckles. 

Lois slid up and kissed her on the mouth as Kara drew back. “You did so good love.” 

“Oh Rao, are we one of those couples with sickly nicknames now?” Cat groaned, though her satisfied smile took the bite out of it. 

Kara’s excitement and joy washed against her as she grabbed a cup of organic carrot juice and held it against Cat’s mouth. 

She winced, but accepted the aid. Cat felt rather like she’d been hit by a truck. Thank god for the lack of afterbirth with psychic births. She could feel the shivers of the wavering psychic bonds she’d just formed, but they were nothing compared to what she’d just done. 

Lois laughed, brushing some of Cat’s hair off her forehead. “Yes well some sappiness is allowed when it comes to birth.” 

Cat smiled softly as she watched Lois proudly looking down at her, Kara practically beaming as her joy filled the room like a tangible thing, and there at the back of her head she felt the tingle of new psychic bonds being formed. And her chest filled with a tender affection for her family.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure about a regular updating schedule for this one, but I do have plans for it and the next chapter and a half are already written. 
> 
> Side thought, how do you guys feel about Agents of Shield? Cause I'm getting pretty burnt out on Supergirl. Like this last season was just so bad? Like....jesus. (I may I have an entire Agents of Shield crossover with Criminal Minds fic written and sitting in my google docs if you guys are interested.)

Alex Danvers paced. Biting at her lower lip she continuously flipped the safety off and then back on, for her side arm. This was unexpected, she hadn’t even considered it a possibility. That had clearly been a mistake. One she needed to address immediately. 

Her first instinct was to go and hunt down her sister, demand blockers, and never bother with the security risk it posed ever again. Because the cluster would know who Supergirl was, what her weaknesses were, the existence of the DEO, every single classified piece of information inside of her head would be available to them regardless of anything she could do. 

Blockers? 

They existed but Kara would never forgive her. Neither would J’onn. Her mouth tightened. It was ridiculous, humans weren’t supposed to be psychic! This was alien and had nothing to do with her. It had always freaked her out to look at her sister and see Cat Grant looking back at her. 

////

Alex frowned as she watched the alien interloper not looking the slightest bit confused about anything around her. The alien’s perfect english was slightly disconcerting as well. “You don’t need help with anything do you?” 

“Cat’s helping me.” The alien looked at her with those stupid blue eyes and then tilted her head to one side. 

She frowned. “Cat?” 

“My apologies, I forgot how rare sensates are on this planet.” Kara straightened. “I have another self on your planet whose knowledge of your species, planet and language is helpful.”

Alex gaped. “Wait, you have like a twin somewhere?” 

“No, a sensate is a...sensates are those with the frontal lobe capabilities to be psychically linked to a cluster. Your cluster are a part of you and you are a part of them. A cluster is born together, grows together and are together in every way. I have a human clustermate on this planet.” Kara’s voice cracked slightly, pain clear to be heard in her voice. 

Her frown deepened. “Why aren’t you with your human ...clustermate? Then?” 

“Because she is pregnant and a public figure. I was...frozen in time and now we are at different points in our life cycles. It is unsafe for me to live with her at this time.” Kara seemed to sag with the weight of something. 

Alex was completely bamboozled. “Wait, so another person is in your head?” 

“Yes, I am one of twelve.” Kara made a low sound. “I mean one of two.” 

“Oh.” Alex reached out and awkwardly patted Kara’s head. 

////

No to reject her cluster would be an abomination Kara would never forgive her for. And one… could she do that? Inflict that type of pain on complete strangers? It was one thing to cause that pain to herself but to strangers? Yes. To protect Kara. 

But none of Kal’s clustermates had betrayed him. Cat despite being a colossal bitch, and she was the bitchiest of bitches to have ever bitched, had never sold Kara out. In fact Alex had no doubt that should Kara’s identity be threatened that Cat would mercilessly eviscerate the threat. Alex would of course help hide the bodies. 

Which means she needed to speak with someone who understood. And not J’onn who considered psychic connections the norm and living without it the equivalent of being blind after a lifetime of sight. Alex winced. Time to call Anna. 

Alex grit her teeth as she picked up her phone. She had met Anna Konig once as a teen and instantly realized she was gay. Teenage Alex, all of fifteen, had not been prepared to meet a god damned supermodel with a german accent who believed in cheek kisses. The god damned giantess made her mind mush. 

Partially she was hoping the woman wouldn’t answer. 

-“Alex! Congratulations on your second birth!”- Her rich tones came through the phone. 

Alex swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. “You already know?” 

-“Lois knows, of course I know sweety.”- Anna’s low throaty laugh hit Alex unexpectedly. 

She grit her teeth. Fuck. “Silly me.” The sarcasm was difficult to fully bite back. “I need to ask a question.” 

-”You have questions about what it is like?”- Anna laughed. 

Alex pressed a hand to her temple. “Can you keep secrets from your cluster?” 

-”Yes and no.”- Anna hummed. -”When I moved to India to be with Ashwani I didn’t tell any of our cluster. It was funny, I took beta blockers to keep my emotions calm enough for the rest of the cluster to not be drawn to me. They knew I was having difficulties with my work and don’t like hovering and respected that for me. It was worth it to see the look on Ashwani’s face when he saw me. What he had picked up from me he thought was dreams. But secrets? Not truly.”-

Her fingers dug into her palm so hard that they drew blood. ”I know classified information. Kara and Clark. If I took blockers while at work, would they know what I did when they wear off?”

-”Oh perle, no. Just because they may not know what to look for does not mean they will not know it. I know how to perform open heart surgery and never so much as set foot in medical school. Or well there was that one photoshoot.”- Anna’s voice softened. -”But perle your cluster is one. If you care for your sister then they will care for your sister. If you wish for something to be secret they will feel that.”-

Alex’s teeth ground. “But I won’t be a seperate self any longer.”

-”No you won’t be, it will be terrifying, wonderful and indescribable. But it is a gift that cannot be compared to anything. Your cluster will be feeling their own fears. Be there for them.”- Anna’s voice was so painfully kind. 

She closed her eyes. -”And if they tell anyone who my sister is?”-

-”Then you know to prepare so that we can protect your sister.”- Anna’s voice was strong. -”After all we’re related by blood and marriage to your sister.”-

Alex hissed. “You expect me to trust people I don’t know.” 

////

It was distinctly creepy to watch Cat Grant in Kara’s skin. The normally sweet and soft face turned sharp and dangerous. Slow overly formal words that showed her alieness became polished and deadly. 

“Well done with the neanderthal.” Cat tipped Kara’s chin slightly in her direction before turning back to the now frozen teenagers who’d been laughing at the bully who’d dumped Kara’s lunch all over the floor. “I would say I expected better, but then that would require I saw any of you troglodytes as capable of independent thought. Enjoy your mediocre days and your mediocre lives with cheap cruel humor that shows how foolish, insipid and truly miserable you are.” 

Cat flicked Kara’s hair over one shoulder, shut the locker, and walked down the hallway towards the cafeteria like the shitty school hallway was her own personal runway. 

The hall was utterly silent as everyone tried to process what had just happened. Alex twitched as she heard the instigator of it all hiss as he touched his eye where she’d punched him. Well, time to leave the scene of the crime. She made sure to sneer properly at everyone before taking off after her sister at a jog. 

////

Alex put her sandwich down in disgust. The taste of cheetos was too overpowering for her to enjoy her own food. It wasn’t fair, she hadn’t had a cheeto in weeks. But then the connection was making her sick and anxious. Maybe it was a good thing she couldn’t eat. 

“Why aren’t you eating?” Kara nudged her while sucking down her eighth sandwich. 

She paused. “How do you handle it when Cat eats disgusting things?” 

“They’re not disgusting to her.” Kara lowered sandwich number nine. “But it is gross when she eats those salads of hers. You learn how to tune out things like that mostly. Takes ages and sometimes still isn’t uh...easy.” 

Alex raised a brow. “So I have to just suffer.” 

“Yup.” Kara shrugged. “So, other than the taste of cheetos, any resonance from your cluster?” 

Her mouth tightened. “Not yet. Just this migraine I keep medicating that won’t go away.” She frowned considering. “And I’m craving Korean Barbecue but that could just be we haven’t had any for a while.” 

////

Alex sat awkwardly besides Kara on the roof as her sister silently looked at the stars, tears running down her cheeks. “Mom and Dad would want to know you’re having nightmares.” 

“They couldn’t help.” Kara’s voice was rough. 

She wrapped her arms around her own legs. It was just...she was useless. “Isn’t Cat helping?” 

“She’s asleep, and she needs to sleep now that she’s so close to birthing our child.” Kara settled slightly at the mention of Cat’s pregnancy. 

Alex frowned. “So are you and Cat like...a couple? Cause that’s...weird.” 

“You mean mates?” Kara looked at her finally slightly confused. “No. We’re...one.” 

She bit at her bottom lip. “I don’t get it.” 

“I..on krypton your cluster had rights to each other. Cat and I are...we feel and know everything about each other. I feel what she feels, he will be my son as he is her son. It’s… hard to explain without you being able to experience it.” Kara ran her fingers against the roofing tiles. “It just is.” 

Alex reached out and poked Kara. It was still weird that her indestructible sister felt human. “So not going to date Cat?” 

“No.” Kara giggled. “That’s silly she’s married to Lois and I’m not...it’s not like that.” 

“Wait...isn’t Clark married to Lois?” Alex’s face scrunched up in confusion. Why did all of this have to be so confusing.

Kara’s head cocked to the side. “Yes?” 

“And they’re all ok with that?” Alex couldn’t keep the disbelief out of her tone. 

Her sister’s brow scrunched. “Why wouldn’t they?” 

Alex gaped…

////

She blinked as she looked up from her lab work only to find that she wasn’t in her lab. Huh, visiting was starting. Alex took in the bland office. The certificates framed on the wall informed her this was a doctor's office. One specializing in the human brain. She stood slowly taking in the occupants of the room. There was a middle aged man with grey facial hair sitting behind the desk. His hands were clasped together and his expression one that said bad news was coming. 

Alex turned to look at the person who must be her clustermate. She froze in horror. Lena motherfucking Luthor. Fuck. 

“I’m afraid the brain scans do show unusual growth of the frontal lobe of your brain.” The doctor began. “I can confirm it’s not cancerous. Which is good news.” 

Alex was going to have to use blockers. No way she shared her mind with a fucking Luthor, why the ever living fuck hadn’t Cat been shoving blockers down her throat after realizing the monster she’d given birth too?! 

Lena tipped her chin up. “So it’s physiological not psychological. Can it be fixed?” And then emotion crashed over Alex. 

It nearly knocked Alex off her feet. Pure Terror. A scream into the void that she not be going insane like her brother. A prayer to a god Lena didn’t even believe in begging to not turn into the monster he had. To let her do good. The knowledge that no one could help her. That if this was inoperable she needed to put a gun to her head lest a second Luthor make the world bleed. 

“Oh god.” Alex pressed her hand to her gut as she wheezed from the force of it half bent in two. 

Lena’s head snapped towards her. “How did you get in here?” 

“Lena?” The doctor stilled, clearly unable to see Alex. 

Alex just stared at her clustermate and understood. No doubt Lena would herself if she understood what it was that was happening. Alex reached out. “You’re not your brother.” 

The blood drained from Lena’s face. “You’re not real.” 

“Alex Danvers.” Alex swallowed, dear god she trusted a complete stranger. A Luthor at that. But then...this was why Cat, Kara, Clark, Anna, they all didn’t fear this connection. She knew. Lena Luthor wasn’t the threat. Because for a fleeting second she knew Lena. 

Lena turned back to the doctor sharply. “Can it be fixed?”

Alex felt herself being slammed back into herself. “Fuck.” 

“Agent Danvers?” Her lab assistant asked cautiously. 

She swallowed. Well, it would seem Lena knew how to throw her out of her head. Kara hadn’t mentioned that could happen. Alex shook her head, she felt almost hungover. “I just need some coffee.”

////

Alex woke slowly against her will. “Kara, shut up.” 

“Sorry.” A muffled squeak came from across the room. 

She pressed her face into her pillow and let out a long groan. “Fine!” Alex sat up and looked over at the dark lump that was her sister. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing!” Somehow Kara’s voice had an audible blush. Who knew that was even possible. 

Alex’s eyes narrowed. Nope, something was off. Well she’d just have to force it out of her alien then. She shuffled over and then flopped on top of Kara. 

“Alex!” Kara wiggled under her covers trying to buck her off without launching Alex into the ceiling. 

She made a raspberry sound and smothered her sister with a pillow. “Nope, tell me! I know something is happening.” 

“Hmphf.” Kara said into the pillow. 

Alex pulled the pillow off and looked down triumphantly down at her sister. “Spill.” 

“Just feeling some stuff from Cat.” Kara mumbled, her eyes focused to the side, her cheeks incredibly pink. 

She blinked. “Stuff?” Alex froze in horror as she put together Kara’s clear embarrassment. “Oh gross.” 

Kara rolled over knocking Alex off. “It’s not gross.” 

“It’s…” Alex sat up from where she was on the floor. “She’s eight months pregnant! Pregnant people don’t have sex!” 

Kara sat up rolling into a ball, arms wrapped around her legs, face bright red. “Not true. Cat’s arousal has been higher the longer gestation has lasted.” She rubbed at her ankles. “And her ankles have been swollen lately. It’s good Lois can help her……” She trailed off awkwardly. 

She paused. “You experience it when Cat has sex?” 

“Sorta? Strong emotions and sensations uh...transfer easiest. Not really more than a hum now that I’m awake but uh…” Kara’s cheeks were so red it was surprising they weren’t on fire. 

Alex considered what she knew of the sensate bond. “Want to go make cake till Cat’s done?” 

“YES!” Kara practically materialized out of bed she moved so fast. 

////

Alex grabbed Winn by the scruff of his sweatshirt and hauled him into her office. “Winn, we need to talk.” 

“Meep!” Winn scurried away from her as soon as she released. “I didn’t start the bet on if Kara and Cat are going to bang!” 

She raised a brow. “Really? Anything else you want to confess to?” 

“No….?” His eyes skittered, his discomfort was tangible. 

Alex would like to find whatever was responsible for statistical luck and shoot it. “You’ve had a headache recently. And for Roa’s sake how many cheetos can one man eat?!” 

“Uh…” Winn blinked. “I won a cheeto sweepstake last year? I get a free flat of them every month?” 

She stared at him. “You’re donating them. I can accept the flavor of cheeto in my mouth once a day. More than that and I’m going to show you what I know about causing pain.” 

“I can do that...uh why does my eating cheetos mean you taste them?” His voice was a slight squeak. 

Alex sighed. “Had any strange feelings, seen weird things, anything off at all.” 

“Uh...I’ve been really into old samurai movies this week?” Winn frowned slightly. “And my feet have been pinching for no reason.” 

She winced slightly, her feet had been pinching too and she had a good idea of why. “Anything else?” 

“I’ve been doodling coyotes?” He settled as he spoke. 

Alex paused at that...she had dreamed about a coyote on a motorcycle last night hadn’t she. So not just random...or it could have come from her? Who knew. “What am I feeling right now?” 

“What are you...Alex what are you talking about? I couldn’t possibly...you’re scary looking so...you’re amused? Why are you amused?” Winn’s shoulders drooped. 

She rolled her eyes. “Fine yes, I find this amusing.” 

“Do you know something?” He cocked his head curiously. 

Alex ran a hand through her hair. “You’re about to know everything I know pretty soon so buckle up. What do you know about sensates?” 

“It’s a term that comes up in kryptonian writing about society and assignments to guilds?” He paused. “No way….No WAY! I...but that would mean.” Winn’s mouth dropped open as he stared at her. “You’re in my head?” 

Alex felt a sudden flicker of terror that wasn’t her own. “I’m not looking forward to finding out what you’re hiding.”

He swallowed. “You are very scary and very pretty and I think of you with the utmost respect and would never think of you or Kara in anyway other than full of respect!” 

“Fuck.” 

////

Alex looked at the black bag. “You’re not serious?” 

“Do you want to come meet Carter or not?” Kara bounced on her toes. 

She sniffed at the thing. “You did wash it yes?” 

“Duh, come on he’s the most amazing thing that’s ever existed!” Kara was vibrating with sheer glee. 

“You better not drop me.” Alex grumbled while climbing into the bag. Stupid secret travel methods that Cat had come up with. It was ridiculous. 

Kara picked her up like a bag of potatoes and slung her over her shoulder. And then there was the sick sensation of high speeds, and the sickening up and down of running across the uneven ground. 

By the time Alex rolled out of the damn duffle bag she puked immediately. Spitting out she groaned. “I hate this.” 

“Sorry...are you uh..ok?” Kara was biting at her bottom lip and generally looking ridiculous. 

Alex stood up slowly while wiping at her mouth. “Yes, but this kid better be the cutest baby to have ever been a baby.”

“He is!” Kara reached out grabbing her arm and hauling her into the house they’d landed by. 

Alex had the brief impression of clean lines and beauty as she was dragged into Cat Grant’s vacation home. Then Kara was gone and she was just there swaying slightly in the middle of the living room. “Uh….” 

“It’ll help with the motion sickness.”

She spun on her heel and let out a slight meep at the sight of Cat Grant holding out a cup of tea. “Hi…?”

“Well it is nice to meet you in person.” The sharp lines from tv seemed melted into soft lines, and a startling amount of just humanness. “And really the tea helps.” 

Alex accepted the tea. “Thanks.” She looked around the room slowly. It was soft driftwood and grey stone with soft blues and greens. All very Martha Stewertish if not for the baby blankets, spilled formula and general disarray of a new mother. “Your house is...uh...nice.” 

“It is.” Cat raised a brow at her in a familiar way. Afterall how many times had she done the same with Kara’s face? “Now are you interested in some food once your stomach has settled? I don’t know about you but Kara’s teenage appetite is never satisfied. It’s nearly impossible to not constantly be eating with her hunger lurking about.” 

She couldn’t help it, she snickered. “At least you don’t have to guard your food.” 

“She did steal your snacks yesterday didn’t she?” Cat looked amused as she turned and began to rummage through the cupboards in her open planned kitchen. “You should just eat what you want. The opinions of those sociopathic plebeians at your school aren’t worth denying yourself anything over.” 

Alex’s lips twitched slightly. Cat wasn’t so bad when she wasn’t hijacking her alien. She sipped at the tea and sighed softly. It was helping actually and those were her favorite chips Cat was dumping on the table. “I think you’ve scared the other kids enough without mocking them in private as well.” 

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Cat sniffed imperiously while picking up her own mug of tea. “Do you know how miserable pregnancy is? I adore Carter of course and would do it a hundred times over for him. He’s exceptional of course. But being cooped up leads to frustration and it’s not healthy for the baby.” 

She barely kept from snorting. “So you torment high schoolers?” 

“Yes, little sociopaths deserve it for trying to pick on Kara. They wouldn’t understand the blessing her presence is if Kara hit them over the head.” Cat looked at Alex critically. “You are acceptable for our species. I suppose I should expect exceptional things from you. The fact you haven’t fallen into the pits of hormone driven stupidity is certainly a sign you are above the masses.” 

Alex took in Cat. Huh...she wasn’t bad at all. “What were you like in highschool?” 

“Oh I was isolated, morbid little thing.” Cat’s shoulders lowered slightly. “It took me years, till I met Clark and Lois really to pull myself out of mourning.” 

Alex scooted forward and patted Cat’s shoulder slightly. “I’m sorry. Kara doesn’t like talking about it.” 

“No, no she wouldn’t. It’s a gift of the connection, we understand each other without having to explain.” Cat looked her in the eye. “Kara adores you, and I am so grateful she has you. I know you doubt she needs you because she has me, Clark and his cluster to lean on. But she does need you.” She reached out and took her hand squeezing it. “Kara and I may share everything but we’re not the same age and it means there are things I cannot give her.” 

Alex’s cheeks heated at that. Because it was true, she felt lacking knowing that she wasn’t needed to help Kara fit in all that much. Afterall Cat, or one of Clark’s cluster were always happy to help Kara when she was confused. “Thanks..” She mumbled. 

Cat clucked her tongue. “Chin up and back straight.” She paused looking towards the hall just in time for Kara to come shuffling towards them, her arms full of a bright red blanket.

Alex couldn’t help herself. She set her tea to the side and peeked into Kara’s arms curiously. There was a round little face inside. 

Carter was an objectively cute baby with his chubby cheeks, light brown curls and thumb stuck in his mouth. And when Alex carefully, so very carefully held the babe in her arms she felt something click into place. Huh, maybe babies weren’t so bad afterall. 

////

“Kara I swear to god do not engage until I get there!” Alex shouted at her sister.

Kara didn’t even bother looking at her. “People will get hurt if I stay back.” And then she was zooming at the three Branx warriors tearing up the street. 

“Fuck.” Alex hit the gas as she fully came back to herself. Psychic connection to her sister being useful for more than raising her blood pressure her ass. 

Her car came screaming round the corner. Alex grit her teeth as she saw the flying alien coming in towards her sister from behind. And then she was moving. It was an odd autopilot almost. Using her shoe she jammed the gas pedal down while lifting herself up and out through the car window. Bringing her gun up to bare she shot through one of the alien’s wings. 

Alex didn’t flinch, didn’t hesitate just leaping from the window and landing on the creature’s back. As she and the alien came smashing into a parked car’s windshield, the car she’d been driving a second ago crashed into one of the Bronx that Kara was fighting. 

It was neatly done mathematical calculations that Alex couldn’t have done without a pen, paper and five minutes to work it all out. She felt the faint satisfied fist pump of victory in the back of her head. And then she was grabbing a broken off windshield wiper and using it like a sword to stab through the downed alien’s eye. 

She blinked back to herself. Well then. Someone really liked swords and someone else was really into physics and math. Alex hopped off the car and now dead alien with the suspiciously blood like substance on it’s claws, and took off at a run for where Kara was using one Bronx warrior as an alien sized club against his friends. So this whole sensate thing wasn’t too bad. Probably.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I've rewritten this chapter four times now. I give up. This is the incomplete chapter. And honestly the drafts for the next couple chapters aren't great. I'm just so burnt out on Supergirl guys. I think I'm going to take a hiatus on this fandom for a while. Might publish a couple of things I've had sitting around, but mostly hop fandoms for fic for a while. The show has killed a great deal of the joy for me.

Lena stared at the file of her brain scans. She’d run her own scans after that idiot doctor had refused surgery. It was bad. Her frontal lobes had grown, actually merged. Added that with hallucinations, and insanity she was….well she was going to become Lex. She still felt rattled from the images of killing aliens the day before. The cold lack of empathy she’d felt at that violence. 

“Ms Luthor? Do you require anything else?” Jess asked. 

She refused to let herself emote. “No, go home Jess.”

“Very well Ms Luthor.” Jess gave a slight nod before slipping out of the office.

Lena turned in her chair to look out the windows at the cityscape of Metropolis. So this was it then. She stood and walked to her wet bar. Picking up the bottle of scotch she filled a tumbler. Forget moderation. Gliding back to her seat at the large oak desk. She ran her fingers along the wood. 

As a child she’d seen her father sitting behind this desk, drinking scotch. It’d been an impenetrable wall. She’d have redesigned the office to be modern. Maybe moved the whole company to a new city. Ripped this dark and cold space out. But it would seem she wasn’t going to get to change the Luthor name. No it would die with her. 

She opened the central drawer of the desk and looked at the pistol inside. Mother of pearl with gold inlay. Truly a piece of art more than a weapon, just the sort of thing she’d expect Lex to keep in his desk. It was cool to the touch as she lifted it. She let her head fall back and downed her glass of scotch. 

Well, let it not be said that she was incapable of the ruthlessness required to be a Luthor. Lena set the glass aside and took a last look at the skyline. She would not become her brother. The Luthor name had wrought enough terror and death. She would not allow herself to become the next face of evil in the world. 

A speck on the dark horizon caught her eye. Lena paused, Superman? The red speck was rushing straight towards her. 

Lena startled to her feet, barely having time to raise an arm to block her eyes as the window exploded inwards. She wheezed as she was hit by what felt like a slab of concrete and went sailing over her desk. 

Sucking in air with a slightly pained wheeze she realized she was pinned into the corner wall of the office. The gun she’d been holding was no longer in her hand, and the desk she’d been morbidly sitting by pulverized chunks and splinters. Also apparently the only reason the impact with her wall hadn’t killed her was that she was being cradled in strong arms, a female voice puffing against her ear. 

Lena blinked. She took a second to be sure her breathing was together, and was Supergirl actually out of breath? “Supergirl?” 

“Oh Rao I made it.” Supergirl’s arms tightened around her before pulling back. Her blonde hair was in disarray as her eyes tracked across Lena. She paused looking at the gun she’d ripped from Lena’s hand. “Oh Rao.” Her hand tightened into a fist, a screech of metal as it was crushed into so much pulp. 

Lena took in the hero. “What are you doing here?” She wasn’t sure she’d ever even heard of Supergirl being in Metropolis.

Supergirl focused on her, her hands falling on her shoulders and holding. Her blue, blue eyes were wide as she finally looked Lena in the eye. “You’re ok.” 

A tickle of something curled along Lena’s mind, something clicking into place at the eye contact and Lena felt dread. “I don’t remember calling for help.” Her tone was sharp and biting. 

“You’re not crazy!” Supergirl’s eyes widened. “I promise you’re not going insane. This is normal, you’re just evolving. It’s going to be ok.” 

Lena swallowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“The headache, the voices, tastes, sounds, sights, the feeling that you’re hallucinating? It’s all normal for you. You’re not going to go insane. You’re still you, you’re just so so special and the bond hasn’t finished forming yet.” Supergirl’s voice was so emphatic as she spoke. 

She opened her mouth to say something cutting, but then… “I’m human, that’s not normal for humans.” 

“You’re… human but you’re not homosapien. You’re homosensoriom. A different evolutionary branch of humans. It’s a common evolution in more highly evolved species. What you’re feeling isn’t insanity, it’s a second birth or a...it's like an entire new receptor or sense is waking up. It’ll take a few more weeks to settle properly but you’re perfectly normal for your species.” Supergirl cupped the side of her face. Her entire demeanor was so painfully sincere. 

Lena’s back straightened. “Thirty minutes. You have thirty minutes to explain what a homosensoriom is, why you’re here, and to convince me not to sue you for destroying this office.” 

It was like stress melted off the alien’s shoulders. Her whole being lighting up in sheer relief. “I can do that.” She smiled. “How do you feel about hot chocolate?” 

“What?” Lena gaped at the woman because, what? 

Ten minutes later Lena found herself in a quiet corner of a coffee shop, mug of hot tea in her hands, and fucking Supergirl in jeans and a blue sweater sitting across from her. Her golden hair hanging loose about her shoulders and those damned eyes looking at her with what was practically reverence. 

Lena cleared her throat. “So Homosensoriom Supergirl?” 

“I don’t know as much about the sensate evolutionary process in humans as I do in Kryptonians, but I’ll explain as best I can.” Supergirl smiled. “And call me Kara, please.” 

She made a small sound in the back of her throat. This was how she started to go bald from stress like her brother wasn’t it? 

Supergirl. Kara, just smiled while sipping her own hot chocolate. “Society is the universal benchmark of an evolving species. For species in a society there comes a point where certain evolutionary traits that tend to fade in early years of sentience resurface. Based on human distribution if the sensate genome was introduced through interspecies relations it would have had to have been over five thousand years ago. To be honest I’ve never really cared how or why the genome came to be prevalent in humans. Though it’s a common phenomena through over seventy recorded species.”

“What does it mean?” Lena’s fingers tightened, fear shooting through her. But the tiniest smidgens of hope taking root. “Being a homosensoriom?” 

Kara reached out laying her hand over Lena’s and applying just the lightest pressure in reassurance. “Sensates are essentially beings with a certain level of psychic ability. The headache is from the growth of brain tissue. It’s not dangerous, it’s just what will allow you to process the new information you’ll be able to take in as psychic bonds strengthen. In fact your brain should have finished adjusting within another week. It's perfectly healthy brain tissue. I know it can be really scary at first.” Kara held up a hand, an understanding smile on her face. 

She took a drink of her hot tea allowing it to warm her. “Psychic bonds?” 

“Yes, there are two types you’ll have access to. The second type is easier to explain, it’s the type we formed when our eyes met in your office.” Kara gave her a supportive smile. “It’s a passive connection that either of us could use if we wanted to, but otherwise will remain inactive. So say you have more questions later tonight you could use it to ask me. Think of it as… video calling only without the phone.” 

Lena paused. “You can see whatever I see now?” 

“And you can see whatever I see.” Kara tightened her hands seeming to sense or hear the rise in Lena’s heartbeat. “It’s ok, once you’ve settled with your new abilities I can help teach you Kryptonian meditation. With practice you’ll be able to block secondary bonds if and when you wish.”

She began to open her mouth...paused. And then started again. “You’d teach me? A Luthor?” 

“Of course, admittedly I wouldn’t have allowed the bond to form between us so easily if things were different, but anything you need, you just have to ask.” Kara squeezed her hands before leaning back in her seat, her hands moving to curl around her mug. 

Her voice croaked. “Why?” 

“Because of the first type of bond, your primary bonds.” Kara swallowed. “Sensates are born as a cluster of individuals. You all take your first breaths together, were born at the same exact second, have lived connected your entire lives. It’s an unconscious connection, a...well a feeling of something. But your cluster just experienced your second birth. Births are...an established Sensate became connected to your cluster and that essentially made those unconscious connections very very prevalent.” 

Kara scratched at the back of her head. “I’m sorry, I’m not great at this. Everyone on Krypton was a sensate and our clusters woke far younger than human ones.” She shrugged. “Still, your cluster’s psychic bonds are finishing their development. Your cluster’s mother is a part of my cluster. It’s how I know you, sorta.” 

“Mother?” Lena was beginning to pick up things the alien in front of her was avoiding. 

Nodding Kara beamed, affection and bone deep love clear to be seen. “Cat Grant, she was the only human member of our cluster. I’m fairly sure it was her frequent contact with my human sister that caused her to form a strong enough connection to birth your cluster. But as a Sensate you traditionally have both your cluster, and your parent’s cluster for support. Admittedly Cat and I are all that’s left of our cluster.” The cheer drained out of Kara as she spoke. Her voice turned thick. 

Lena could read between the lines, the rest of the cluster had likely been kryptonian and were now dead. She could come back to it later. There was something she desperately needed to understand. “Is my mind still my own?” 

“Yes and no.” Kara winced slightly. “You are still you, but your primary bonds with your cluster are… they’re beautiful. But for humans it is difficult to understand.” She perked up slightly. “You know Cat Grant, do I seem like the same person as her?” 

Lena raised a single brow because obviously the alien with a whipped cream mustache from her hot chocolate was not the Queen of all Media. But well that was the point wasn’t it. “Try to explain?” 

“You can sync your phone with your laptop. They will have access to all of the same information but they are different pieces of technology. It’s like that. I know everything Cat knows, but she’s the one who experienced learning it. Even more than that the ineffable person that is Cat is different than what makes me me. But if she wanted to speak any of the twelve alien tongues I know she’d be capable of it, but she didn’t learn them.” 

“Do you know the damage my knowledge could do in the wrong hands? You shouldn’t have stopped me. As much as I appreciate knowing I’m not going insane, it doesn’t change the fact this has made me a threat.” Lena pushed her mug away from herself. 

Supergirl grabbed her wrist. “My sister is in your cluster. My last clustermate is your cluster’s mother. I know another of your clustermates as well. You are a part of a cluster of five, small but cluster sizes vary.” Kara swallowed. “If you do this they will all experience your death, your ghost will haunt them till the day they die. It’s not as simple as simply putting a bullet in your brain.” 

“What is it then? Because I’m sure you don’t want the knowledge of how to make synthetic kryptonite getting out? Because I’ve read Lex’s files. And If I’ve read them….” Lena trailed off meaningfully. 

Kara shook her head sharply. “And you, as well as your whole cluster will know everything my sister, the leading expert on kryptonian physiology, knows. You are worth more than my secrets.” 

“It’s not just that.” Lena stared down at her hands wondering how to explain to the embodiment of hope that Luthor’s were poison. 

Kara sighed. “If you wish to kill yourself that is your right. I won’t stop you. But please wait, meet your cluster first. I know how terrifying it is to go from not knowing sensates even exist to all of this. But it’s beautiful and you deserve to take that chance.” 

“How could you possibly...Cat. You know how it feels because you know how Cat felt.” Lena folded her hands together. Her knuckles turned white from the pressure. “I see.” 

Kara made as if to speak only to shift. Her entire posture changed. Where before it was a comfortable slouch, filled with the quiet strength of a god; now she was all sharp lines, perfect posture and sharp eyes. Kara dabbed at her upper lip carefully while rolling her eyes. “Honestly, sorry about that dear but Kara here was the only one who could get to you fast enough.” Kara brushed off one shoulder. “But please, are you an adult or a middle schooler angsting in your bedroom with Evanescence and drawing bleeding roses on your notes?” 

“Cat.” It wasn’t a question. 

Kara, or rather Cat looked faintly amused. “And there’s the Luthor genius I’ve heard so much about. Now if you were one of my blood daughters I’d send you to bed with an extra calorie snack till some sense had come back to you. Unfortunately you’re a tad more complicated than a tween dealing with her first crush. So, what’s this really about?”

“What else could it be?” Lena slumped, she was done. 

Cat sighed. “When was the last time you slept?” 

“Excuse me?” She felt flat footed. 

And then it was clearly Kara not Cat. “I’m sorry. You don’t need Cat’s brand of tough love right now.” Kara stood and held out her hand. 

Lena’s heart ached, her dry eyes burned, but she was just...she was tired. So she took the hand.

////

Lena woke slowly from her first peaceful sleep in months. She grasped at the wisps of her dreams, it’d been full of a coyote puppy and a warm feeling of love. An affection she hadn’t felt in years if ever. Something simple, innocent, honest. But the dream slipped away. 

She paused as her eyes focused on the view out the window. That wasn’t her view. She sat up and stared at the room. Warmth, safety, she couldn’t find it in herself to panic. It felt like….. home.

“Morning.” The door was nudged open and then Kara walked in, hands full of a tray of food, orange juice, coffee, hell even a daisy in a vase. 

She looked around the room. It was elegant, all warm reds and oranges, high thread count sheets, original Monet hanging on the wall. The size of the bed, the two bedside tables, matching wardrobes, the reading glasses on one side of the bed, this was a couple’s room. “Where am I?” 

“Cat and Lois’s Metropolis apartment. Don’t worry, they’re both ok with you being here and I made you breakfast.” Kara smiled as she set the tray down on the bed next to Lena. 

Lena slowly sat up fully. She eyed Kara suspiciously as the alien moved forward fluffing the pillows behind her. It was…”Do you have kids?” 

“Four, Carter, Conner, Linda and Christopher.” Kara beamed, in fact she looked about ready to pull out photos. 

That was… “Those are Ms.Grant’s kids...but you and Ms.Grant are.” She tilted her head. “So you’re a second mother?” 

“I’m not their mother. I’m their godmother, the closest earth equivalent would be a live-in aunt.” Kara smiled softly and full of warmth. “You’d like Carter, he’s a big fan of your green energy projects. Conner and Christopher can’t wait till they’re old enough to put on capes. But Linda? Linda is a mini Cat. She’s going to take the world by storm someday.” 

Lena carefully picked up the cup of coffee. It was warm, nothing in it, creamer and sugar placed suggestively on the tray. Her lips curled up as she sipped at her coffee. “They sound lovely.” 

“Are you feeling better this morning?” Kara curled up in the chair by the window, her face painfully kind and open. 

She nodded slowly, only to pause as she realized there was a brunette woman sitting on the bed. Lena didn’t start, somehow she knew this woman wasn’t truly here. “Who are you?”

Kara glanced at the end of the bed before settling.

The brunette, or well her hair was more red where the sun touched it. She raised a hand in greeting. “My name’s Alex Danvers.” She jerked a thumb towards where Kara was peacefully looking out the window. “And I’m that one’s sister.” 

“You’ve never showed up like this before.” Lena pulled her knees up slightly, everything felt rather out of balance. 

Alex huffed. “You’ve been doing a spectacular job of blocking us all out.” 

“I have?” Lena considered that, she had been trying to shut out anything strange, push it away. 

Alex looked, and oh she was amused. Lena could feel it like a physical thing. “The links aren’t all completely stable. But you know Amadeus Cho, the Korean freelance researcher? He’s got a friendly parasitic alien attached to him. So when you actually connect with him properly that’s not you actually going crazy.” 

“He...can we help him?” Lena considered what she knew of parasitic alien species. 

Alex laughed, shaking her head. “He doesn’t need help. They’re friends? It’s...well let’s say the first time I connected properly to him he was running around Seol as The Brawn, beating the shit out of some less than friendly aliens.” 

That was...well her mind filled her in made sense. The Brawn was a less famous hero then the Super’s, but the super strong, large, green hero in Korea had been on the news several times. If a scientist was using the alien parasite to acquire powers… maybe a sympathetic bond? 

“Exactly.” Alex nodded. “They’re weird. I’ve only found myself in Korea twice now and not for long. Winn though, Winn and him seem to have a fairly stable bond already.” 

Lena narrowed her eyes. “Who all is in our cluster?” 

“Myself, Amadeus, you, Winn and Nyssa. Personally I’m still trying to figure out how three of us are in America. But then you were born in Ireland so that helps...slightly.” Alex’s frustration was palatable. 

Lena paused as she parsed what she realized she was getting from Alex. “You're frustrated because it is statistically unlikely that out of seven billion people you and Winn were so close, not only to each other but to Cat.” 

“Yup.” Alex seemed to soften around the edges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I've rewritten this chapter four times now. I give up. This is the incomplete chapter. And honestly the drafts for the next couple chapters aren't great. I'm just so burnt out on Supergirl guys. I think I'm going to take a hiatus on this fandom for a while. Might publish a couple of things I've had sitting around, but mostly hop fandoms for fic for a while. The show has killed a great deal of the joy for me.


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